Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Girl Time

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to post about my weekend!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of having my MEF come visit me! Syl and I have been friends since we were about 12, and even though we rarely get to see each other, we are still as close as ever.We didn’t do much of anything exciting this weekend, in fact, we spent a good chunk of Saturday just hanging out in front of the TV, watching the entire Season One box set of Burn Notice. We did cook a little bit, making some lovely asparagus and red pepper scrambled eggs for breakfast Saturday, Creamy Fire Roasted Tomato Orzo for dinner Saturday night, and a Fluffy Pancake with pineapple sauce for breakfast Saturday. Did I get pictures of any of this? Nope.

What I did get pictures of was our lunch on Saturday. I took Syl down to Alton, Illinois for a quick shopping trip and lunch at Fast Eddie’s BonAir. Fast Eddie's is reputed to sell more beer than any other venue in the country, and, particularly since they added their new outdoor smoking area (which, frankly, felt more like a beach party in the sunny 70 degree weather we were blessed with this weekend), I wouldn’t doubt it.The other thing Fast Eddie’s is known for is their food. It’s a small menu, only about eight items, but they are all fantastic, and very, very cheap. There is no carry out available, you’ve got to eat it there, which is kind of the point, so you’ll stay and drink more beer. They have 99 cent cheeseburgers, $1.29 pork kebabs, fries, brats, steak on a stick, hot chick on a stick (chicken drummies seasoned, skewered, and grilled), and, my personal favorite – SHRIMP. They have jumbo peel and eat shrimp for 29 cents each. You wait your turn in the eternally long line and when you get in front of the huge vat of ice and shrimp, you just shoot them a number.“30, please!”There you go. For less than ten dollars, you have a plate full of beautiful shrimp and cocktail sauce. For me and Syl, it started with 30, and then we had to get back in line and get 30 more. We probably would have been fine with 20 more, since we struggled to get the last few down, but it was so worth it. Wash it all down with a cold beer and it makes for one wonderful afternoon.We did do a little bit of beading as well, finishing off a four strand necklace I’d been working on, and making a beaded lanyard for her work ID badge.

All in all, it was just a nice, refreshing “girl weekend”, getting caught up and playing. I intended to scan some of our old pictures that we spent Friday night laughing at so I could do an “US: Then and Now” post, but that never happened, so I guess you’ll just have to settle for “Now”.Love ya, Syl!